One of the many qualities that people look for in a potential location or company is the intelligence of those around them. This factor can play a huge role in oneâs experience at a particular company and can make or break an employeeâs time there.

So finding a city with an intelligent population makes sense for both companies and employees. Thatâs where Zippia comes in; to help you identify those places in North Carolina that might have skipped a gradeâ¦or two.

You may be wondering how does one determine how intelligent a town really is?

Well we went to the source of all things demographic data â the Census â to figure out what criteria about a place would identify it is a smart cookie.

We set upon the percentage of adults (over 25) with at least a high school degree and the percentage of high school dropouts (aged 16-20) for the 132 largest cities in North Carolina with data. We then crunched the numbers and were left with this set of the brightest cities in the Tar Heel State:

Marvin

Weddington

Davidson

Pinehurst

Oak Ridge

Apex

Summerfield

Carolina Beach

Harrisburg

Chapel Hill

Read on to see why these places got into a four-year college or skip to the end to see a full chart of all the places in our analysis.

How we determined the smartest places in the Tar Heel State

Before we could dive into the potential IQs of various places in North Carolina, we needed to know which places to look at in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 5,000 people and data available for every criteria.

This left us with 132 places in North Carolina.

We then looked at the following criteria to determine the cream from the crop when it comes to smarts:

Our data comes directly from the latest American Community Survey from the Census.

We thought this criteria was representative of the current state of smarts with the potential for a place to improve the education levels of the next generation. And itâs not like we are setting the education bar incredibly high â 80% of students graduate from high school nowadays.

In order to determine the smartest, we ranked all the cities for each criteria from one to 132 with one being the âsmartestâ in any category.

We took the average rank across all criteria, with the place posting the highest overall score being given the diploma for âSmartest City In North Carolinaâ.

If your city or town isnât among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart. Otherwise, learn more about how the top ten cities achieved their potential.

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1. Marvin

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 5,806Adults Without High School Diploma: 0.7%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Graduating early with their diplomas held high are the citizens in Martin, North Carolina. With a population of 5,806, an almost nonexistent high school dropout rate, and only .7% of the adult population without a high school diploma this town earned its #1 spot.

2. Weddington

Population: 9,906Adults Without High School Diploma: 1.4%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Coming in the bittersweet #2 spot on our smartest cities list is the city of Weddington. With zero dropout rate mark and only 1.4% of the adult population missing a high school diploma they are in close competition to be sure.

3. Davidson

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 11,492Adults Without High School Diploma: 2.4%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Davidson, North Carolina can be found in the #3 spot of smartest cities. With such great numbers and a total population hovering at 11,492 people itâs a shoe in as one of the smartest cities in the Tar Heel State.

4. Pinehurst

Source: Flickr

Population: 15,052Adults Without High School Diploma: 2.6%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Pinehurst, our #4 town, earned its place on the list of smartest cities with only 2.6% of the adult population missing their high school diplomas. With a reputable 15,052 residents this city is on the road to success.

5. Oak Ridge

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 6,435Adults Without High School Diploma: 3.5%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Oak Ridge has the keys to success tucked away in their pockets as they swoop into #5. At 6,435 this tiny town is doing big things with almost no high school dropouts and a low percentage of adults without a high school education.

6. Apex

Source: Flickr

Population: 40,631Adults Without High School Diploma: 2.9%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.9%

The suburban city of Apex has taken the #6 spot with winning numbers all around. With a population hovering around 40,000 and less than 1% of high schoolers dropping out early itâs a shoe in for our list of the smartest cities.

7. Summerfield

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 10,477Adults Without High School Diploma: 4.8%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

The lovely town of Summerfield boasts impressive numbers as they have almost a nonexistent high school dropout rate and so few adults walking around without a high school diploma.

8. Carolina Beach

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 5,888Adults Without High School Diploma: 5.1%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

The kids at Carolina Beach are focused on school rather than play as they rank in at #8. A small town of only 5,888 residents they have few to no high school dropouts.

Smart cookies!

9. Harrisburg

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 13,549Adults Without High School Diploma: 5.2%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.0%

Cutting it close is the town of Harrisburg, North Carolina. A city of over 13,000 they kept the high school dropout rate ultra low to fill the #9 spot.

10. Chapel Hill

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 58,379Adults Without High School Diploma: 4.5%Teenage High School Dropouts: 0.6%

Last but certainly not least is the college town of Chapel Hill. Home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill itâs no wonder they made our list since the kids here already know where they want to go to college.

Go Heels!

And thatâs how you graduate in style

That is our definitive ranking of the 10 Smartest Cities in North Carolina. Here at Zippia we want to bring important information to our readers. Now you can make a more informed decision on your next visit to the Tar Heel State. Be sure to visit these towns to see their intelligence first hand and experience it for yourself. And next time youâre looking for career advice head to zippia.com to have all of your quesitons answered.